'Cats come back yet again

DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire hockey team would rather not be known as strictly a third-period team. Thanks to slow starts in its first two games, however, that's the way it's worked out.

The Wildcats rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit at the Whittemore Center Friday night to pull out a 5-3 win over Colorado College. Jerry Pollastrone and Matt Fornataro each scored twice as the Wildcats improved to 2-0 with their second come-from-behind win of the young season.

"It feels good," Fornataro said. "We don't want to say we're a third-period team, but obviously the early indication is that we are. We definitely want to clean up the first period and not get behind but it's a good way to start the weekend."

Pollastrone netted the game winner on a power play with 2:31 remaining the third period to give No. 6 UNH a 4-3 lead. Fornataro added an empty netter with 9.7 seconds left as the fourth-ranked Tigers dropped to 2-1. The teams will meet again tonight at 7.

The Wildcats outshot the Tigers, 37-24, including 18-3 in the third period. In two games UNH has outscored the opposition in the third, 6-0. The Wildcats broke open a tight game last weekend with three third-period goals in a 4-1 win at Boston University.

"The guys are in great shape," UNH coach Dick Umile said. "They've worked hard. They were determined to come back. They stayed with it and played with some pretty good composure down the stretch."

Trailing 3-2 entering the third, Pollastrone scored twice and Fornataro once. UNH's second line of Pollastrone, and sophomores Bobby Butler and Peter LeBlanc accounted for three goals and seven points. Butler had a goal and two assists. Pollastrone also scored the tying goal at 9:45 of the third on a wrist shot from the inside edge of the left faceoff circle.

"I got leveled coming across the middle," Pollastrone said. "I tried to do something I probably shouldn't have been trying to do. The puck came back to me and Bobby Butler had a great screen in front of the net. The goalie didn't even see it. The shot wasn't even that hard; a little muffin I put on net."

"He has a great shot," Umile said. "He's got a pro shot. But he also made some great passes. He's got great puck composure. We're going to need guys like that to step it up. Jerry is doing a great job."

UNH scored the only goal of the second period to trail 3-2 after two. It came off the stick of Fornataro, who sunk his second goal of the season with a hard wrist shot from the right faceoff circle just 15 seconds into the period.

Defenseman Brad Flaishans and freshman James vanRiemsdyk assisted on the play as Flaishans collected his second assist of the game. Flaishans also set up Butler's goal in the first period that made it 2-1.

The Wildcats trailed 3-1 after one period. The Tigers scored on two of their first four shots to take a 2-0 lead, then added a power-play goal later in the period to make it 3-1.

"It's definitely something we've go to look at," Fornataro said. "It's nice to get the two points but we've definitely got to come out a little bit stronger in the first period. It's tough playing from behind. It's going to hurt us if we keep doing it."

"A 3-1 lead 15 minutes into the game you can't start thinking you're going to win," CC coach Scott Owens said. "We just couldn't get that fourth goal. They played better in the second and third periods. They picked up the forechecking and had us scrambling."

Butler scored UNH's only goal of the period eight seconds after CC had gone up 2-0 by capitalizing on a Wildcat turnover. Jimmy Kilpatrick capped a 2-on-1 rush with Chad Rau at the 9:40 mark while the teams were skating four aside. Butler made it 2-1 eight seconds later when he beat CC goalie Drew O'Connell with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle.

The Tigers went up 3-1 when defenseman Jack Hillen netted a wrist shot from the right point with 4:50 left in the first. CC took a 1-0 lead just 2:12 into the game when Eric Walsky stuffed the puck past Regan.

"It's a good win for us," Umile said, "especially with the way the guys bounced back after the first period."